Ore-concentrator



(No Model.)

W. MODERMOTT.

ORE GONGENTRATOR.

No. 404,011, Patented'May 28, 1889.

ooeogo oooooo iocjsoooooooooooo 000000000booolooooooooooooooo 00000000 booozoooocoooooooooo 00000000 I ooooieoo 0000100000000000000 :0o00L000oo00o0000 oo 00o:00oo00000000100I 0000100000 0ooo00:{00b

0 00000500000 0000005000 oboooioo ooo 0000003000 0:000o';0oo0%0oo00d zoo0 N. PETERS. Phnlolilhographnn Walkingon. u. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALTER MCDERMOTT, OF MORRISTO\YN, NEXV JERSEY.

ORE CONCENTRATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,011, dated May 28, 1889.

Application filed April 2, 1888. Serial No. 269,228- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

' Be it known that I, WALTER MCDERMOTT, of Morristown, New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ore-Concentrators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the construction of endless traveling belts as used in concentrating-machines for the washing of ores and separation of the heavier val uable particles of mineral from the lighter a vertical longitudinal section of the machlne.

worthless rock.

The function of the traveling belt in this class of machines is to carry up an inclined plane against a descending current of sand and water such heavy particles of mineral as are settled on its surface, and from their greater specific gravity are capable of resisting the downward flow of water, which carries the lighter material down the incline. For the most perfect work on such concentrators a shaking or oscillating motion is given to the belt in addition to its traveling motion, which assists materially in settling the heavy particles, while the lighter sand is kept in suspension in the stream of Water.

My invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Iam aware that cleats or rifl'les have been used on such belts and that corrugated surfaces have been employed; but in all these forms the great objection is in the fact that when in use the increased resistance offered to the downward flow of the light sand more than compensates for any advantage in the increased capacity for holding the settled heavy mineral, and as a consequence greater inclination of belt and more water have to be used, both of which are detrimental to a close saving of the very fine particles of mineral. Another very serious objection to such belts is the fact that in passing the water-jets at the head of the incline, (which effect the final cleaning of the mineral by washing back any light attached sand,) the plowing up of the collected bed of mineral by the force of the jets tends to stir up the finest particles, which are carried off in the descending sheet of water and lost with the light sand waste.

In my invention the arrangement of the between depressions, and it is simply a gentle surface-wash which passes over the material collected in the depressionsthe exact condition most perfect for skimming ofi any light surface-coating of sand without agitating the fine mineral below,

Figure l of the accompanying drawings is Fig. 2 is a plan. Fig. 3 is an end view at the upper end of the belt. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of a portion of belt, showing the pits or depressions. Fig. 5 is a plan view of a portion of the belt, showing a modification consisting in the use of projections instead of depressions. Fig. 6 shows the relative arrangement of the water-distributers and the depressions.

a is the main frame of the machine.

1) is a supplemental shaking-frame supported by the resilient bearers c c c c, by which it will be permitted to receive a sidewise shake.

d is a shaft at one side of the shaking-frame, to which it is connected by the rods 6 6. These rods have eccentric bearings on the shaft, and are therefore reciprocated by the rotations of the same. The upper supportingrollers are lettered f.

g is a roller mounted in the shaking-frame and driven from the pulley h.

i j k are other rollers having their bearings sustained by the shaking-frame. The endless beltl is preferably of rubber, and provided with the side flanges, m. It passes around the rollers, as shown in the drawings, and is driven by the roller g.

n is an ore-distributor of ordinary construction, discharging upon the surface of the belt, which continually moves up the incline.

0 is a water-distributer containing a series of short spouts, (lettered 19,) which discharge the water upon the surface of the belt. The water-distributer preferably does not shake with the belt.

The belt is of ordinary construction, except that its surface is broken by the pits, (lettered q.) These pits are arranged so that the spouts 19 will discharge Water between them and not into them, which is accomplished by making them in rows a sufiicient distance apart, so that in the travel of the belt the intervals between the pits will come beneath the spouts, and since the belt will be shaken sidewise the interval should preferably be as wide as the sidewise stroke of the belt. Thus in Fig. 6 the dotted lines 10 will show the position occupied by the spout with reference to the belt-pits at one end of the belt-stroke, and the dotted lines 19' the position at the other end of the belt-stroke.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a modification in which for the pits are substituted short projections on the surface of the belt, behind which the mineral may lodge and be protected from the currents flowing down the avenues between every two series of projections. These projections will have the same arrangement with reference to the spouts as the pits. Whether the surface of the belt be roughened by pits depressed in its surface or by projections above the surface, retaining-pockets will be formed, in which the fine particles of ore find lodgment.

' The crushed ore to be treated falls onto the inclined belt lfrom ore-spreader n and flows slowly down the incline, being subjected to the shaking motion of the crankshaft 01. The heavy particles of mineral settle onto the surface of the belt and collect mostly in the shallow depressions or behind the projections by displacing any lighter particles of sand. The slow upward travel of the belt carries the same under the water-jets p, which or projection q'. The water'on striking the surface spreads in gentle circular waves, which pass over or between the material collected in the depressions or behind the spurs and eifect'ually skim oif the upper light sand surface without agitating the mineral below, and the cleaned charges of mineral are carried on by the belt to be washed off and collected in the concentration-tank below, which "is filled with water, into which the reversed 35 strike midway between the line of depression 

